No penalty for setting off unabsorbed depreciation and losses against capital gains on wrong advice

IT: No penalty is to be levied under section 271(1)(c) for setting off brought forward loss and depreciation on wrong advice of counsel

Remission of sale-tax loan on prepayment of loan amount won’t be deemed as remission of liability un

IT : Where in terms of 'Madhya Pradesh Government Conversion of Amount of Deferred Tax into Loan Liability Scheme, 1989', sales-tax payable was converted into loan which was repaid on an early date, concession received on said pre-payment of loan did not amount to remission or cessation of liability so as to attract relevant provisions of Act

Economic Turnaround Where India Took The Lead

Almost all economic turnarounds in the recent past have primarily been exports-led. From China to India, a rising share of exports as a fraction of the gross domestic product (GDP) has been a key feature of every economic success story in recent decades.

But global trade data suggests Pakistan fares poorly compared to regional economies when it comes to the competitiveness of its exports in the international market.

The gap appears starker when the growth rate of Pakistan’s exports is compared with that of India.According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Pakistan’s exports grew at an average rate of 7.7% per annum between 2003 and 2013. In contrast, the annual increase in the value of India’s exports during the same 10-year period remained 18.9%.

According to economist Atif Mian, the performance of India and Pakistan looked fairly similar until 1992. But data from 1992 onwards shows a great divergence between the two countries in terms of their exports’ competitiveness, he added.

“Since 1993, Indian and Bangladeshi exports per capita have grown 5.8 and 3.8 times higher than that of Pakistan, respectively. These are enormous differences in growth,” Mian told The Express Tribune in an interview.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently named Mian, professor of economics at Princeton University, among 25 economists under 45 ‘who are shaping the way we think about the global economy’.

“If Pakistan continues to fall behind at such a pace for another generation, my fear is that it might become a regional economic ghetto. The government needs to wake up,” he noted.

Many people argue that the widening difference in the exports per capita of India and Pakistan is a direct consequence of the economic liberalisation programme that India went through post-1992 under former finance minister Manmohan Singh.

But Mian believes this explanation is flawed. He says Pakistan had a more liberalised economy – and much earlier – than India. However, Pakistan’s exports per capita never saw that kind of a sudden increase, he adds.

In fact, Pakistan’s exports as a percentage of its GDP used to be higher than that of India. But the opposite is now true, with India’s exports as a fraction of its GDP far exceeding that of Pakistan.

Moreover, Pakistan’s exports as a fraction of the GDP tend to go down over time despite the fact that there has been a massive expansion in global trade in the last 20 years.

Mian believes boosting domestic productive capacity is the biggest challenge that Pakistan is facing today. Low exports mean the economy is struggling to produce products that are competitive in the global market, he says.

And the reason for Pakistan’s inability to compete in international trade is its lack of sound institutions, he says. “Just like individuals cannot grow and prosper without a good work ethic, countries cannot grow without good institutional foundations.

Source:- tribune.com.pk

Maneka Gandhi Expresses Concern Over India’S Beef Exports

Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Sunday expressed concern about India being the world’s largest beef exporter and claimed that the money from illegal animal slaughter was used for perpetrating acts of terrorism.

“We are the largest beef exporters in the world and are also killing them for leather production. We are actually killing more animals than China, it is appalling!” the minister for women and child development said during a valedictory lecture at the India for Animals conference in Jaipur. Quoting a report submitted to Uttar Pradesh Police four years ago, Gandhi, who is also a noted animal rights activist and environmentalist, claimed that the money earned through illegal animal slaughtering was going into terrorism.

“It is going into terrorism, it is going into bomb making. It is going into killing us. Why we are allowing this? It is a trade of Indians. Do not blame a particular community for this,” she claimed. Gandhi said while members of one community sell its livestock, another slaughters it in their slaughter houses and asked people not to link animal slaughter to a particular religion or community.

India is illegally exporting beef to Bangladesh and that country claims of exporting about 160,000 tonnes of beef. “But as a matter of fact they (Bangladesh) do not own a single cow,” she said. The minister called on non-governmental organizations (NGOs), volunteers and civil society to join the ‘save animals movement´ and urged them to set up informer systems to sound an alarm to prevent such trade.

“Deer’s meat is available at many places in Rajasthan, even in Dhani (hutments)... I get such information while sitting in Delhi. Every animal organ... is illegally sold. Over 25,000 websites are full of the illegal sale of animal organs,” she said. On a report published during the previous United Progfressive Alliance (UPA) government’s regime stating that 80% of milk in the country was “adulterated,” Gandhi lamented, “we are drinking poison”.

She asked NGOs and volunteers working for the protection of animals to study the forest and wildlife Acts properly and try to inform the municipal authorities about any animal cruelty. Dissection of animals in school and college education has also stopped, she noted, adding the Medical Council of India is also considering this ban.

Cosmetic research and animal experimentation needs to be contained in the growing Indian culture, the Union minister said. Over 200 delegates participated in the two-day-long conference organised by the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations and its associates.

Source:- livemint.com

Manufacturing and trading segment of vehicles could be combined for TP analysis as both segments wer

IT/ILT : Where assessee was engaged in manufacturing and selling of vehicles, in view of fact that both segments were interlinked, a combined approach was to be adopted and since in terms of said approach profit margin earned by assessee was within premissible range of plus/minus five per cent of arithmatic mean margin earned by comparables, adjustment made to assessee's ALP was to be set aside

No denial of benefit of GTA abatement when input credit had been reversed alongwith interest

Service Tax : Where input service credit has been reversed with interest, benefit of abatement in respect of Goods Transport Agency's Services cannot be denied, as said reversal with interest would amount to non-taking of credit, thereby, satisfying conditions of abatement Notification

CCI orders investigation against 'ICAI' as it was creating entry barriers to outsiders providing CPE

Competition Law: Investigation is to be conducted against Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for abuse of its dominant position in creating entry barrier to outsiders in providing CPE seminars

Plastic Industry Working On Negative List To Curb Imports Under Fta

The plastic industry is working with the Government to prepare a negative list that would restrict duty-free imports from countries that have free trade agreement with India.

The initiative comes after the industry appraised Ananth Kumar, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, on the perils of large scale finished plastic products imports into the country.

Speaking to Business Line, Raju Desai, Chairman, PlastiVision India and past-President of All India Plastic Manufacturers Association, said this is the first time ever a Union Minister along with his secretaries met representatives of the industry to understand its grievances and directed it to submit a list of demand in 10 days.

It is a pity that India, which exports 2.5 million tonnes of polymers (a key raw material for making plastic products), is a major importer of finished products from other countries, he said.

Import duty revision

The industry wants the Government to double import duty on finished plastic products to 15 per cent. Unfortunately, the export duty on polymers and import duty on finished products are pegged at the same level of 7.5 per cent, he said.

To top it all, he said, plastic products are being dumped duty-free from countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia that have signed free trade agreement with India.

Upgradation fund

The industry has also sought technology upgradation fund of ?20,000 crore for five years.With an additional capacity of one million tonnes of polymers going on stream in next one year, the upgradation fund will help the industry focus on value added finished products.

“The fund would not only restrict export of energy-intensive polymers but also bring down import of finished plastic products,” said Desai.

Source:- thehindubusinessline.com

Ap Makes Red Sanders Sale Attractive To Foreign Buyers

The Andhra Pradesh government has introduced multiple safeguards in favour of the prospective buyers of red sanders wood while revising the auction schedule aimed at enhancing the foreign participation to get maximum returns.

As many as 140 overseas buyers, including 109 people from China, besides 275 Indian visitors had so far made a physical inspection of the red sanders lots located at various depots of the forest department in the state, according to forest department authorities.

“The response from overseas buyers exceeded all our expectations. During the 2008 sale, there were only handful of foreign buyers,” said PK Jha, additional principal chief conservator of forests, on Saturday while explaining the last minute changes related to the sale process of 4,160 tonnes of the wood in log form.

According to Jha, the government has decided to conduct the e-tendering-cum-e-auction process from October 10-17, instead of September 19-26 as the Chinese embassy had requested for a 15-day window at the end the road shows for the participation of Chinese nationals.

The government agencies will now take the full responsibility of delivering the red sanders consignment up to the loading point from any port along with police security to every successful bidder and will take all the statutory permissions on their behalf. The government will pay six per cent interest on the money paid towards the purchase of red sanders in case the sale process is not completed in three months.

The names of the bidders will only remain with MSTC Limited, which will conduct the sale process, while the state government will approve the successful bids within a week on receipt of the information from the central government’s trading agency. These safeguards were introduced to address some of the apprehensions expressed by the overseas buyers during their interactions with the government authorities, according to AV Joseph, chief principal conservator of forests.

The state forest officials are leaving for China on Monday to conduct road shows at Xian You and Beijing and then to Tokyo in Japan before returning to India. China is the biggest importer of red sanders. The authorities are expecting to get a price in the range of Rs 20-40 lakh per tonne depending on the grade.

The international agencies had given one time exemption to India for sale of this protected plant species, which is being used for medicinal and other purposes in China and other countries. Of this, AP was given a quota of over 8,000 tonne. The Director General Foreign Trade (DGFT) has allowed the state government to sell half of this quantity in the first phase.

Source:- business-standard.com

Australian Customs For Closer Ties With Indian Customs Agency

Australia and India have agreed to an annual cycle of joint working group to promote closer cooperation between the customs agencies of the two countries.

The joint working group mechanism will focus on sharing of technical expertise, people exchange and information exchange, the Chief Executive of Australian Customs and Border Protection, Mike Puzzello, said.

Plans are afoot to move from a transaction-by-transaction-based approach to information sharing to a more institutionalised arrangement, Puzzello told Business Line in an interview here.

Puzzello, who was in the apital for the inaugural meeting of the Joint Working Group, said both sides will work towards rapid dissemination of information if not real time information exchange.

Asked to comment on the current level of cooperation between the customs agencies of the two counties, he said it was good.

"It can be much better now that the Prime Ministers of both the countries have set very ambitious goals and targets to achieve."

Besides the bilateral talks with Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairperson, JM Shanthi Sundharam, Puzzello also met Director General of Narcotics Control Board and Indian Coast Guard.

In his meetings with Indian counterparts, Puzzello discussed regional security issues not just in Indian ocean but across the broader Asia Pacific region.

"Australia and India should think as to how their bilateral partnership can be used to drive regional leadership."

While India was the past Chair of Indian Ocean Regional Association, Australia is the current Chair.

"One of the consistent discussion points was how do we work together across the Indian ocean region to faciltate legitimate trade and travel and work against smuglers, criminals and terrorists," Puzzello said.

Australia intends to investigate the Indian Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) programme put in place by customs authorities here.

This will help Australia in rolling out its Trusted, Tried Out Programme--equivalent of AEO--from, say July 1, 2016.

AEO programme is now the preferred model for customs collaboration around the world.

The biggest benefit is dramatic reduction in paperwork for companies and cutting down of red tape, Puzzello said.

He also said mutual recognition of each other's programme was also a distinct possibility in the coming years.

Source :- thehindubusinessline.com

Rupee Weakens Past 61.07 Per Dollar

The Indian rupee weakened past the 61 mark against the dollar in morning trade on Monday, tracking weak Asian currencies and ahead of Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation data for August.

The government will release WPI inflation data later in the day on Monday. Bloomberg expects WPI inflation will be 4.33% for August as compared with 5.19% in July.

The local unit opened at 60.93 per dollar and soon touched a intra-day low of 61.07—a level last seen on 14 August. At 9.41am, the home currency was trading at 61.03, down 0.60% from its previous close of 60.66. India’s benchmark index, Sensex, was trading at 26,853 points on BSE, down 0.8%.

Most of the Asian currencies were trading lower. The Indonesian rupiah was trading down 0.66%, Malaysian ringgit 0.38%, Philippines peso 0.24%, Singapore dollar 0.19%, South Korean won 0.15%, China offshore 0.08% and Thai baht 0.07%.

The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 8.489%, compared with its Friday’s close of 8.503%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has gained 1.88%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $14.10 billion from local equity markets.The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 84.177, down 0.07% from the previous close of 84.240.

A US Federal Reserve paper released on 8 September showed investors underestimated the speed at which the Fed might raise interest rates. That raised concerns the US central bank could signal an earlier-than-expected rate hike at its next policy meeting on 16-17 September.

Any decision by the Fed to raise rates, which have been held near zero since December 2008, will have implications for India, as it could lead to capital outflows, weakening the rupee and inflating costs of imported commodities, Reuters reported.

On Friday, the government issued Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation data. IIP rose 0.5% in July as compared with 3.9% in the previous month, the slowest in four months. Data released by the statistics office showed CPI inflation slowed to 7.8% in August from nearly 7.96% in the previous month.

Source:- livemint.com